Extrapolation of the Zalpha-Expansion and Two--Loop Bound--State Energy Shifts

Abstract

Quantum electrodynamic (QED) effects that shift the binding energies of hydrogenic energy levels have been expressed in terms of a semi-analytic expansion in powers of Zalpha and ln[(Zalpha)^{-2}], where Z is the nuclear charge number and alpha is the fine-structure constant. For many QED effects, numerical data are available in the domain of high Z where the Zalpha expansion fails. In this Letter, we demonstrate that it is possible, within certain limits of accuracy, to extrapolate the Zalpha-expansion from the low-Z to the high-Z domain. We also review two-loop self-energy effects and provide an estimate for the problematic nonlogarithmic coefficient B_60.